Jakarta (ANTARA News) – The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) said here Friday it had issued a fatwa (ruling) against the religous sect led by Lia Aminuddin long ago and it was now up to the police to take further action against the group.
“We have already done our duty since we declared Lia Aminuddin`s teachings deviate and misleading as early as December 1997,” MUI Chairman Amidan said.
He said in MUI`s fatwa signed by then MUI Chairman KH Hasan Basri and MUI General Secretary Nazri Adlani, Lia Aminuddin`s sect was declared deviate based on a number of argumentations, among others, that the belief in the Archangel Gabriel, should be based on the Koran and the “hadist” (Prophet Mohammad`s sayings and traditions).
In the Koran and hadists, there was not any article mentioning that the Archangel Gabriel would be given the task of spreading Islam after the Prophet Muhammad was no more.
He said the police`s action in arresting Lia Aminudin was carried out as she had misled the public.
Previously, during two days (Dec 27-28), hundreds of people tried to drive out Lia and her followers from her residence as the sect had caused unrest among people living in the surrounding area.
Lia claimed she was the Archangel Gabriel and her son was Jesus Christ. She had also alleged she had undergone a metamorphosis into a personage named Syamsuria Maria Lia Eden.